


you're the shade and i'm the sunshine

by softwest



Category: Victorious (TV)
Genre: Cade - Freeform, F/F, Fluff, Gay, Useless Lesbians, friendship to relationship, jade is soft to cat
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-10
Updated: 2020-06-14
Packaged: 2021-03-02 23:21:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 6,867
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24114928
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/softwest/pseuds/softwest
Summary: She seemed too pretty to be real. Cat reached out and stroked Jade's hand to make sure she was really there. She was.Cat's parents and brother leave her at home alone, and Cat is left questioning if they really care about her. Luckily, she has Jade to look out for her.
Relationships: Cat Valentine & Jade West, Cat Valentine/Jade West
Comments: 26
Kudos: 98





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> this is my cade head cannon :) i'm not really a writer but i really like cade so i hope you like it

"Come on Cat! Let's go to lunch!" Tori said to her enthusiastically, already on her way out of the school and to the car. Cat was standing in the school, spacing out maybe, staring at her friends leaving the building. Usually she was enthusiastic as well, but she didn't take her medicine today, which only made her spacey and a little... sadder? Her parents were gone with her brother, so no one was there to remind her. Her whole house was completely empty now, and the change of environment completely changed things, making her forget to do the normal stuff, such as take her medicine. She wasn't sure what exactly her medicine did, she only knew that when she was on it she felt very happy, enthusiastic, and excited about life and without it she got all... think-y. 

Cat was knocked out of her thoughts only when she heard a familiar comforting voice say, "Hey, you okay?"

She looked up at Jade, who was looking down at her with concern in her blue eyes, an expression rarely seen on her face. Her raven black hair fell in perfect waves on her shoulders, today with a mix of blue and green streaks in it. Cat examined Jade's face, her perfect features almost made her look like a doll. A pretty doll. Not getting the response she had expected, Jade reached out and put her hand on Cat's arm. "Hey" she said sweetly, a completely different tone than she would normally use with everyone else.

"Hm.." Cat blinked. "Sorry Jadey, I don't know why I'm all think-y today."

"It's okay..." her velvety voice still sounding concerned as she looked at Cat a moment more and then started walking towards the door. Cat followed.

Cat has a few friends, some would say many, but Jade has always felt different. She couldn't put her finger on it, but Jade made her feel a certain way that none of her other friends did. She might say she admires Jade, but she would wonder why because of how mean Jade is to some people. However, Jade was purposely never mean to her. And she knew that for sure, and so did Jade. 

After an uneventful lunch at Nozu, which pretty much consisted of Jade and Tori bickering, Robbie trying to flirt with the waiter and not succeeding, and Beck and Andre talking about the new play they're starring in, the group got back to school and started going their separate ways to their classes. Cat was starting in the direction of her history class, which by the way she absolutely despised, when she felt someone pull her arm into the janitors closet. She could immediately tell it was Jade was the thick metal rings she felt against her skin.

"Okay, what's up with you?" Jade said once they were fully in the closet with the door closed.

"Uhh.." 

"Seriously, you didn't say a word at lunch and you keep spacing out. Something has to be going on." 

Cat looked up at her with sad eyes, she felt like her problems were stupid in front of Jade, especially knowing Jade has problems with her parents too, considerably worse ones than Cat's. 

Seeing the sad expression on Cat's face, Jade's face softened. "You can tell me Cat, did something happen?" She said, considerably softer than the first time.

"It's nothing really Jade..." She looked up at Jade hoping that answer was enough, but Jade's expression was edging her to continue.

"... m- my parents and my brother left... and I forgot to take my medicine that's all..."

"They left?? What do you mean they left!?" Jade said aggressively, but Cat could tell she was angry at her family, not her. 

"It's okay, really I'm fine at home alone. I have all the stuff I need." Cat smiled at Jade trying to ease her aggression, succeeding a little when Jade's face softened. Her mouth opened as if she was about to protest, but the bell rang and cut her off. 

"Okay... let's go to class." Jade said quietly, opening the door and gently putting her hand on Cat's back leading her out. 

**Time skip to after school**

Cat sat on her bed in her colorful pink room. She didn't really know what to do, she finished her homework and she didn't want to go downstairs, the big, dark, and empty house was strange and almost frightening. She grabbed Mr. Purples and hugged him, hoping maybe he would come to life so she could have someone to talk to in this boring-ness. Suddenly, the doorbell rang causing her to jump and squeal. Even though she knew it was probably just a package her mom might have ordered, she walked downstairs with Mr. Purples anyways, trying to break her spell of boredom. She opened the door, looking down thinking to see a cardboard box, only to realize she was looking at a red pair of Doc Martins. She looked up to see Jade's smirking face. 

"Hi."

"Jade?" I told you I'm fine by myself.." Cat tried to be mad but she couldn't suppress the smile appearing on her face. 

"Yeah yeah, I know you were just sitting in your room bored right?" Jade said, walking in and dropping a medium sized duffel bag on the couch. "Plus I can tell, you're happy I'm here." She said her smirk getting more prominent on her perfect face. Cat wasn't trying to hide her smile anymore.

"I am." She said hugging Jade tightly.

"Woah okay okay.." Jade said chuckling. Cat stepped back."Someone needs to look after you. I'm staying the night." Cat squealed and clapped with delight. Jade walked briskly out of the room and into the kitchen.

"Where are you going?"

"To make dinner."

**. . .**

After having a delicious dinner of Kraft Mac n Cheese, Cat and Jade were on the bed in front of the TV matching Beauty and the Beast, per Cat's request. Jade had protested, but as soon as Cat gave her her puppy dog eyes she complied. Now, Jade lay curled up asleep in Cat blankets while Cat sat next to her, groggily watching the TV as it played. She found her eyes wandering to Jade. She noticed Jade's pretty china-colored hand resting on the pillow. She noticed her pretty lips, pursued in relaxation. Again she wondered, how could Jade be so perfect? She seemed too pretty to be real. Cat reached out and stroked Jade's hand to make sure she was really there. She was. Cat let out a breath of relief when Jade didn't wake up, and continued to stroke her hand. Cat sometimes wondered if it was normal for her to feel these things about her friend. But, she's pretty, and if you think about it, all she was doing was observing right? Jade let out a soft sigh, making Cat's heart feel so full it almost hurt. _She's so pretty it hurts,_ she thought. Thinking these thoughts were probably just from fatigue, she lay down next to Jade. She faced her, staring at her china doll face. She slowly closed her eyes and fell asleep. 

**. . .**

"Cat. Cat. Cat!"

"Hm?" Cat opened her eyes slowly, adjusting her eyes to the bright sunlight. After she rubbed her eyes, she turned to see Jade's stern face close next to her and realized she was resting her head against Jade's shoulder.

"Oh, hi Jade!" she giggled. Jade sighed. "Cat, we have to get ready for school."

"Noooo can't we stay here foreverrr" Cat whined, hugging Jade's arm tighter. For a second she thought she saw a hint of a smile on Jade's face, but she probably just imagined it. 

"Cat, get up." She said in a soft but stern voice. Cat got up with a pout.

Jade looked at Cat, she was making a fake pouting face about going to school. Jade knew she was being stern, but she was almost certain Cat knew she wasn't ever angry with her. Never for real. Jade looked at Cat's big brown eyes and reached out to push a strand of her red hair behind her ear. Cat smiled.

"Alright let's go." 

"Ughhhh."


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 2nd chapter! i hope you like it, please let me know what you think :)
> 
> also i will be continuing this at some point but just letting you know this won't be the last chapter!

Because Jade had made sure to remind Cat to take her medicine, Cat was being her usual bubbly self. They had just gotten to school and were hanging out by Jade's locker when Tori (ugh) and the rest of the group had to come say hi too. Not that Jade necessarily disliked the group (well she disliked Tori), but she just liked spending time with Cat better. With the whole friend group she was always so mean and snarky, which she chose to be, but it was way different from how she acted around Cat. To be honest, she could only be more of who she really was with Cat, and how she acted to the group was just, she guessed, a coping mechanism of some sort. She would consider her home life to be, well, not the best, which made act mad and irritable to most people. She could never act like that to Cat though, which made hanging out with the whole group kind of conflicting. 

Suddenly, Jade was snapped out of her thoughts by the ring of the school bell, and the short red-head tugging on her sleeve.

"Jade, Jadeeeeee, do you want to walk with me to class?" Cat asked excitedly, bouncing up and down. 

"Sure." They had Sikowitz's class first today, which was the one class they had with the whole group, but most of them had left already, for some reason that Jade hadn't been paying attention to. 

"I'll walk with you as well." Robbie said in his weird Robbie-way, being the only other remaining one at Jade's locker. Jade gave him a stare.

"You know what, I just realized... I have to go uhh somewhere first? see you in class!" Robbie responded awkwardly, not necessarily frightened, but he got the idea. It's not that Jade disliked Robbie that much, but he was kind of ruining her alone time with Cat, and she wanted him to know that he wasn't wanted at the moment. 

Cat watched as Robbie awkwardly half-ran away. "Come on Cat" Jade said, slightly smiling at her. With that Cat beamed and squealed with happiness as they started walking. 

**. . .**

"Tori, Beck, get on up. You'll be our example for a scene showing true sadness, our next emotion we will be working on!"

Jade rolled her eyes. Her two "favorite" people.

"Here are your scripts. Now I know this is just a sight read, but try to show as much emotion as possible! Just let the sadness flow! Action!"

Annnddd that was Jade's que to day dream about literally anything else because she'd rather do anything than watch Tori fricking Vega and her ex boyfriend acting together. She remembered staying the night at Cat's last night and smiled. She loved hanging out with her outside of school, where she didn't have to worry about her image to everyone else. Like, for example, no one HAD to know that they were up watching Beauty and the Beast, right? Or at least until she fell asleep. Normally, she wouldn't have crashed so early, she was usually such a night owl and would stay up forever, but it was nice to feel the comfort of having someone next to her. Her mind wandered to how she would usually go to sleep so late at home, and it wouldn't matter. She wondered if her Dad cared that she was gone last night. Since her parents divorced, all her dad cared about was his new girlfriend, and never gave Jade any attention. Knowing him he probably didn't notice. Usually, something like this would make her upset, but today she was happy, knowing that she could stay with Cat for longer. 

Normally Jade would be thinking for a longer period of time, but Tori and Beck were screaming on stage for their scene, making it hard for her to not hear it. "My parents left me! Don't you get it!" Tori screamed on stage, unsuccessfully trying to cry real tears. Ha. 

Oh shit. Cat.

She looked to her left, and there was Cat with her hand over her mouth, clearly scared and saddened from the scene. Suddenly, Jade wished Tori would shut up more than she ever had in her life. 

"They don't care about me! I'm alone with nowhere to go!" Jade sat up in her chair as Cat started to cry. 

"Cat...?" Tori said breaking character. 

"Cat what's wrong?" Robbie asked. 

"You okay?" Andre said, chiming in as if everyone asking her would magically fix things. 

Seeing the whole class staring at her, Cat looked down and covered her face as she continued to cry. _That's enough._

"Can't you see she wants to be alone?! God, what is the matter with you guys?! Jade almost shouted, standing up. Everyone was staring at her now with wide eyes, and even Cat looked up at her through her tears. _You know what, Cat isn't disrespectful enough to walk out in the middle of class, but I am._

"Come on Cat." She said, swiftly grabbing Cat's arm and leading her out of the room. 

**. . .**

Cat didn't want to start crying during class, but it just happened. And now Jade was pulling her to the janitors closet. _Does this count as ditching class? Are we gonna get in trouble? What's worse getting in trouble, or crying in class? Ugh._

The janitors closet was dark when they got there, probably because the janitor doesn't clean in the middle of class when kids would just make the hallways dirty again in an hour. Cat reached to turn on the light.

"No," Jade stopped her, stopping her, "they'll know we're in here if the light is on."

Cat moved her hand back up to her face and started to sob. 

Jade wasn't used to comforting anyone like this. In fact, she didn't think she had ever been in a situation like this before. Hesitantly, she wrapped her arms around Cat's shaking shoulders, holding her close. She let out a sigh of relief when Cat hugged her back. 

Cat felt cold, but Jade holding her made her feel warm and safe. She felt the feeling of being loved creep back into her mind, pushing some of the sadness away. If her parents didn't love her, at least maybe Jade did. 

After her crying slowed down a bit, she had to ask. "Jade?"

"Mhm"

"They don't love me, do they..?"

Jade was stunned by her question. She wanted to make sure to say the right thing, because if there was one thing she was gonna do it was make Cat feel better. 

"Cat... they do love you. But they did something really, really dumb that they should've never done. It was stupid of them, really. But they'll come back, they have to. I'll stay with you until then okay? And I... I would never leave you. Got it?" Jade tried to sound stern with the last part, but it didn't really work. Her inner voice was too focused on being kind to Cat, and honestly it was a good thing she couldn't be stern. She needed to let herself be gentile with Cat now.

"Really?" Cat said, breaking their hug to rub her eyes and look up at what she could make of Jade's face in the darkness. 

"Really."

"Aw Jade, thank you" She said hugging Jade as tight as she could. "I love you."

Startled, Jade raised her arms back around Cat's body again. She was happy that she could once again hear the smile in Cat's voice, but surprised. Jade hadn't heard those three words in a long time. In fact, she couldn't remember the last time she heard them. For the first time in forever she was actually nervous to respond, and quietly, she mumbled, "...I love you too." 


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi guys! thanks for the positive response on my first two chapters, i'm really glad you guys enjoyed them! without further ado here's part 3, enjoy!

Ever since that moment in the janitor's closet, Jade had felt a little nervous around Cat. Not to get her wrong, she did mean it, she did love Cat, and she loved that moment and thought about it probably way too much, but she was scared. She was scared because, when she thought about it, everyone who had ever said they loved her had abandoned her. The only relationship she had ever really been in... and her parents. With her parents... well her mom left with her brother when she was in eighth grade. Her mom and dad got divorced, and she ended up having to stay at her dads place while her mom and brother moved away. Something about them not wanting to waste her precious scholarship at Hollywood Arts by moving away from it. And her brother could move because he was starting middle school anyway so, she guessed they figured that it wouldn't matter as much to him. When they used to live all together, Jade's mom was so loving towards her, but with her dad he was always defiant and strict. Of course her mother was the one who had to leave. And with Beck... well they started dating in eight grade too, but before her mom left. And then after her family broke up she clung to Beck like glue, which was why she became so protective and sensitive to anything that threatened their relationship. But in the end, her immense desire to keep them together became the very thing that broke them apart. So yeah, love scared her. But with Cat she hoped it would be different. She could only hope that her friend would stay with her until the very end, and honestly she could only hope that Cat would want to. She seemed like a ray of sunshine in Jade's gloomy life. A bubbly, cute ray of sunshine...

**_*Bell rings*_ **

Finally, History class was over, Jade's favorite class to get her deep thinking in because she could not pay attention for the life of her. _At least there was one good thing..._

"Hi Jade!" Cat bounced up to her, smiling from ear to ear as always. After her break down during Sikowitz's class earlier, Jade was impressed by how quickly Cat had recovered. She almost seemed completely normal, well "Cat-normal" anyway, considering how upset she had been that morning. 

"Hey,” She said with a small smile as they began to walk out into the hall. “ready to go?” 

“Uhm… Jade I was thinking, maybe I should just walk home.” Jade chuckled. 

“Why? We’re going to the same place.”

“Well… Jade I don’t want to force you to stay with me…”

“Force me? Cat, I’m choosing to, on my own”

“Yeah but wouldn’t you rather stay at home, you know, where you could have your own bed…”

“Do you really think I want to stay at home with my father? Come on, don’t be ridiculous, let’s go to my car” Jade said, rubbing Cat’s back and guiding her to follow. Cat really liked that Jade was staying with her, but she couldn’t help but feel like she was being a burden. Jade did say that she chose to on her own, but what if she was just saying that? After her moment of reluctancy, she finally decided to follow Jade out to the parking lot. 

**. . .**

When they got home, the two girls had decided to start their homework first to get it over with. Jade had been defiant at first, but Cat had convinced her that they should never put off their work just because of a few “strange circumstances”, and she reluctantly complied. However, when she should have been finishing her work, Cat couldn’t stop thinking about her situation. She was really living with Jade until her parents came home. That was real. Cat looked up at Jade, who was sitting across the room. She was focusing hard on the book she was reading, her eyebrows furrowed in concentration as she scribbled down notes in the margins. Cat would’ve never thought that Jade would want to stay with her so much, considering she was always so indignant to hanging out with her when she used to bring it up at school. They’d always end up hanging out anyway, but Jade would always put up a fight when she would first bring it up. Cat liked to tell herself that it was just Jade putting on an act because they were in the publicity of the school hallways, but she couldn’t be sure. Either way, Jade was here now, taking on the role of a guardian angel just to make sure Cat was okay. Cat smiled to herself. _Jade was her guardian angel._

“You need something?” Jade said suddenly, peering up from her book. Cat shook her head quickly and looked back down. She made the mistake of looking up again and saw Jade smirking at her.

“Whaattt…” she whined, giggling. 

“Oh, nothing..” Jade said, smiling. “Are you almost finished?”

“Almost..”

“Good. We can go for a drive once you’re done if you want…”

“Yay!!” Cat exclaimed, clapping in excitement. 

“Then finish your homework love, so we can get going.” Jade said chuckling.

Cat loved going on drives with Jade, wherever they may be going. And it was already 4:30, if they left soon it would be perfect timing to watch the sun set. Cat excitedly continued her homework, heart pounding from Jade’s new found nickname for her, and not being able to wait for their drive together.

**. . .**

As the two drove slowly down the street through the busy L.A. traffic, Jade couldn’t help but smile. She was so happy she got to spend time with Cat. Not because she tended to be lonely, but because, and she wouldn’t admit this to anyone, she adored hanging out with Cat. Cat was so sweet and fun, it would be impossible not to like hanging out with her. Compared to how she felt about everyone else, Jade was pretty surprised that she felt this way. When anyone else tried to be nice to her she would just shrug it off or get mad, two things she never did with Cat. Jade didn’t really understand, but she was just glad she had someone who she adored so much. 

“Jade, where are we going?”

“You’ll see.” Jade had decided that she wanted to surprise Cat with something special, to make her feel better about everything. She did feel really bad that Cat had had a bad past few days, and she wanted to make up for it. Jade turned into the empty parking lot of the large park, void of any people. She had purposely chosen this spot because she knew people never entered the park on this side, considering how run down it was. 

“Jade, look!” Cat said excitedly, pointing to the window towards the sky and quickly getting out of the car. Jade followed. 

“It’s so pretty!” Cat exclaimed, hands clasped together as she looked longingly at the bright pink and orange sunset. Jade gracefully hoisted herself up to sit on the top of the car. Cat looked up at her and Jade reached out her hands. 

“Come on, I’ll help you.” Cat squealed as she grabbed both of Jade’s hands and carefully climbed to the top, situating herself close to the other girl. 

“Look, Jadey, look!” Cat said, shaking Jade’s shoulders, resting her hands there. In front of them was the prettiest view of the sun set Cat had ever seen. It was pure sky, nothing blocking their view. It was gorgeous. 

“I see, Cat.” Jade said, smiling because she was glad Cat was happy. “Do you like it?” She asked, already knowing the answer.

“Oh Jadey, I love it!” Cat quickly kissed Jade’s cheek and rested her head on her shoulder. “Thank you…” Jade had to fight blush from appearing on her cheeks when Cat kissed her, but she still snaked her arm around Cat’s waist, pulling the other girl closer. 

“Of course, anything to make you feel better.”

“Jade, with you I always feel better.”

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi again! so i asked this on my other fic but i would like to know how i'm doing, specifically with points of view. if you find it at all confusing who is thinking/speaking what, please let me know, i won't get offended! i'm a bit new to writing on here so i would love any feedback you have to offer. thanks! <3


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi everyone! I've gotten a lot of positive response on the last chapter, I'm so glad people like it! i gotta be honest, for whatever reason this chapter was kinda hard to write so it took a lot longer for this update. anyways, sorry for the delay, but here's part 4, enjoy!

It was nighttime, and frankly far too late for Jade to still be awake. Jade lay on her back staring at the ceiling, not even a hint of sleep in her eyes. Cat was curled up next to her, breathing softly as she slept peacefully. Jade couldn't sleep. She kept thinking about the kiss, and more importantly, her emotions, both of which she was confused about.  _ It could've just been a normal friend thing right? Probably a lot of girls kissed their friends, ...probably? And Cat didn't seem nervous or anything like that when she did it, so it must of been a friend thing. But then why did she keep thinking about it?  _ Jade didn't understand anything about what she was feeling. Again, the unfamiliar feeling of nervousness had creeped into her mind, but she could tell now it was something more. It wasn't a normal type of scared. She felt scared but also...happy and warm? And she had butterflies in her stomach and she didn't understand why because she never, ever, ever, felt like this. Probably the only time she had ever felt like this was with...Beck.  _ No. Nononononono. She couldn't be.  _ Jade sat up abruptly, heart racing.  _ She wasn't gay. She wasn't. She couldn't be.  _ Not that she was homophobic or anything, but she just wasn't gay.  _ Maybe?  _ No.  _ It could explain... oh god.  _

Jade looked over at the other girl, sleeping peacefully, cuddling a bunched up blanket. Jade had to admit she was beautiful.  _ Oh... If she DID have feelings for Cat, it made so much sense, everything would make so much sense...  _ But she didn't. Probably. She was obviously straight, right? But if she thought about it, she did like Cat kissing her.  _ Maybe it's just loneliness.  _ Jade imagined what would happen if, theoretically, she kissed Cat, like, for real. If they sat there on the car in front of the sunset and just kissed...  _ No. Nope. Fuck.  _

**. . .**

Cat couldn’t help but notice Jade’s jittery behavior as they drove to school that morning. Not only that, but she had noticed Jade sleeping on the floor instead of next to her when she had first woken up. She did go back to sleep though and she was barely awake, maybe she dreamed it?  _ Or Jade didn’t want to be next to her. Did she do something wrong…?  _ Cat wracked her mind of what it could be. She couldn’t think of anything, except maybe the fact that she kissed her at the sunset… but Jade didn’t seem mad in the moment? Whatever it was, she wished it would go away so Jade would be her normal self again. She looked over at Jade, who was gripping the steering wheel with unnatural force. Her eyes were focused straight in front of her, never moving away from the road. It was obvious there was something wrong, if only she knew what…

“Jade?... Are you okay?”

“What?” Jade responded quickly, almost startled.

“Are you okay…?” __

“Yeah of course, why wouldn’t I be?” Jade said, not very reassuringly. Cat could almost see Jade trying to force a smile, but it barely appeared on her face. 

“Did… did something happen?” 

“No Cat. Now stop asking me, okay?” Jade snapped. Cat opened her mouth to say something but then closed it. Jade sounded mad now, much to her dismay. She just wanted to talk to her, but now she figured talking would make whatever it was worse. Jade must’ve realized she had hurt Cat’s feelings, and sighed.

“Cat… I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have yelled. I didn’t get much sleep last night that’s all.”

“Is that why you were sleeping on the floor…”

“What?”

“Nothing…”

**. . .**

After a long day of not paying attention in class and thinking, Jade had kind of been freaking out. What if she did have feelings for Cat? It would mess up everything, not to mention she didn’t even know how Cat felt about the whole  _ liking girls  _ thing. Knowing Cat, the kind and respectful person she was, Jade could mostly assume she was generally accepting of people.  _ But that didn’t mean she would be accepting of Jade liking her.  _

“Jade? What is UP with you?” Tori asked rather annoyingly, looking at Jade across the lunch table. Jade gave Tori a look and looked back down at her fries. 

“Seriously, I’ve never seen you being this quiet. Did something happen or did you finally decide that being rude to people all the time isn’t a good thing to do?”

“Listen Vega, if you say one more word to me I’ll-”

“You’ll what, Jade?”

“...whatever. You’ll regret this soon enough.” Jade retaliated, picking up her food and giving Tori a sarcastic smile. She didn’t particularly want to eat there anyway, between Tori being annoying and Cat sitting right next to her while she was thinking about… “issues” having to do with her, she wanted no part in it. Jade stormed away, feeling all of their eyes on her back. 

“What is up with her?” Tori asked. Cat wished she knew. Judging by the way Jade acted this morning when she had originally asked, Cat could assume that she would not want her to follow her into the building. This morning Jade had said that she was just tired, but Cat was beginning to think it was something more than that. 

“I’m not sure… she was acting weird this morning too…” Cat answered, worriedly looking back at her friend. 

“Weird...” Andre responded thoughtfully, probably surprised at Jade’s sudden shift in character. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen Jade space out like that before” 

Cat wanted to say that actually, she HAD seen Jade space out like that before, it wasn’t very rare. She would always notice Jade spacing out in class and would wonder what she was thinking about. But Cat decided that somehow telling the group this observation would be an invasion of privacy for Jade, she knew that she would never want people to see through her “at-school” persona. 

“Me neither,” she lied quietly, giving one last confused look to her friends before focusing back on her sandwich. 

**. . .**

Jade sat silently in the car on the drive home from school. Well, not “home” per say, but Cat’s home, which was quickly seeming more and more like it was her home too. She could feel Cat worried eyes still on her, and it probably couldn’t have helped that she stormed off at lunch earlier. Jade wished she could talk to Cat, but she was just so unsure. About everything. It was as if she was scared a bomb would go off if she said one word to Cat that seemed… suspicious?  _ Everything she had done today was suspicious, how would it matter now?  _ Never the less, Jade didn’t know how Cat felt about this sort of stuff, and she couldn’t just straight out ask her. After a minute of thinking, Jade let out a loud sigh. 

“Cat, I know you’re looking at me. I know what you’re thinking.”

“Really? What am I thinking?” Cat asked sweetly. 

“You’re thinking… ‘gosh I’m worried that something happened with Jade and that she isn’t okay’, am I right?” Jade said sarcastically, looking over at the other girl with a small smile. 

“Sorta” Cat said with a small giggle. “But I am worried…” Jade pulled into Cat’s driveway and parked before turning towards her. 

“Cat… something did happen. I…” Jade had almost blurted out her actual secret, but then stopped herself. She knew she couldn’t tell Cat what was really going on, but maybe she could turn it into a way to find out how Cat felt about a certain subject. 

“I found out… that my cousin is gay. And she’s struggling with coming out… and accepting…herself…”

“Ohmigosh! That’s terrible!” Cat interrupted. 

“What? What’s terrible?” Jade asked frantically, heart pounding at her response. 

“It’s terrible that she has to deal with not being able to accept herself! I mean everyone should be accepted no matter who they love… right?” Jade smiled. Yes.

“Yes they should. And that’s why I was kind of upset today…sorry…” Jade mumbled, suddenly feeling bad about her lie. 

“It’s okay Jadey, you’re allowed to be sad,” Cat said, again very sweetly, reaching over and pulling Jade into a hug. Jade tried to regain her breath. It was okay, now she was reassured about how Cat felt. It was what she needed to hear. Trying to forget about her lie, Jade wrapped her arms around the smaller girl and hugged her tight. 

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> to be real i'm not really as confident on this one but uhhh yeah i hope you guys are okay with the story going in this direction so far. as always pls tell me any suggestions, tips, or opinions on this chapter! i'd love to see what you think :)


	5. Chapter 5

Jade and Cat were sitting at the lunch table next to each other, as usual. Tori was going on about some stupid story and her sister or whatever, but as always, Jade wasn’t listening. To be honest she couldn’t care less. After her and Cat’s conversation a few days ago, the two girls have grown inseperably close. Jade chose not to think about her “feelings”, or whatever one would call them, towards Cat and focused on the fact that they had a growing friendship which was only getting closer. They would constantly watch movies together, hang out during school, and go to that park most evenings to see the sunset, just like they had the first time Jade had taken them. Even now, Cat’s thigh rested against Jade’s as they sat close to each other at the table. Surprisingly, Jade had been allowed to stay at Cat’s for as long as she wanted. After a few nights of sleeping over, Jade had decided that she would go check and see what was happening with her dad, you know, to see if he maybe cared a little. She thought back to their conversation…

_“Dad. I’ve been staying with a friend, she just needed some help with stuff.”_

_“Mhm..”_

“Can I stay with her for longer?”

“Mhm.. yeah.. Sorry what were you saying?” _Jade sighed._

_“I said, ..I’m going to stay with Cat for longer.”_

_“Have fun” He mumbled._

It was barely a conversation, and it definitely convinced Jade that her dad didn’t care what she was doing, but she couldn’t give a crap right now. She got to hang out with Cat and that’s all she wanted to hear. 

“Jade!”

“What.” Jade sneered back at Tori.

“I know I asked you this last year, but what should I get Trina for her birthday?”

“How am I supposed to know?” Tori sighed. 

“Just don’t write her a song.. We all know how much she loved the last one.” Jade smirked. 

“Jade, if you don’t want to help me, or talk to me or anyone at this point then why do you even sit here?” Jade raised an eyebrow. 

“Excuse me?”

“Just curious. Is it just because you don’t have anyone else to sit with or…” 

Jade’s nostrils flared. _Wow._ She was about to have at it but in her rage, she could see Cat looking at her out of the corner of her eye. She was going to make some snarky insult back at Tori but as soon as she opened her mouth she felt Cat’s hand on her leg. Surprised, she looked at the other girls hand and then her face. She was looking up at Jade with her big brown eyes and a smile on her face. 

“Ohhh I see. You sit here for Cat.” Jade’s heart sped. 

“What?” 

“The only one you ever talk to, or spend time with is Cat, isn’t it?” Everyone at the table looked over at Jade for an answer. 

“Cat’s my friend,” Jade spat out nervously. “Why would I not sit with her?”

“What’s with you two anyway? You can’t sit an inch apart from each other?” Tori laughed, acting all innocent, like she didn’t just start something. 

“Oh what? I’m not allowed to sit with my friend without being harassed?” 

“No but-”

“Yeah??” Cat and the rest of the group sat and watched as Jade and Tori started to bicker incoherently.

“You’re just jealous…” Cat stated softly. Both girls turned towards Cat. 

“What?”

“You’re jealous ‘cause you don’t have a friendship as good as mine and Jadey’s” Cat said to Tori, grabbing onto Jade’s arm and leaning on her, laughing innocently. Jade smiled in surpise. _Cat’s coming up with come backs for Tori now?_ She had never loved her more. 

“Jadey??” Beck spoke up, confused, looking back and forth between the both of them. 

“Cat’s exactly right,” Jade said with a smirk, ignoring Beck’s remark. “Wish you could be as good friends with me as Cat is, huh?”

“I-”

“I thought so. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go eat with my friend in peace.” Jade stood up and grabbed onto Cat’s wrist, leading her into the school.

“Bye!” Cat said excitedly with a wave to her friends. Winning arguments was kind of fun. 

**. . .**

The two girls arrived in the hallway outside the blackbox theater, an unmentionably less popular area than where their friend group would always hang out. 

“Why are we over here?”

“Eh, it’s quieter, there’s no one to bother us, and hey, you can finish your lunch without getting in trouble.” Jade explained as she slide down the wall to sit against it. Cat happily plopped down next to her. 

“Sorry that Tori was bothering you…” Cat said thoughtfully. “I don’t understand why she’s always doing that…”

“Well it’s nothing I can’t handle... and like you said, she’s just jealous of us.” Jade added, smiling at her friend. Cat giggled. 

“...Jade? Don’t get mad but I have a question.”

“Okay?”

“Am I really the only reason you sit at the lunch table with us?” Cat asked with genuine curiosity in her eyes. Jade thought. _Was Cat the only reason she sat there? What other reason would there be…_

“Umm well… I don’t know I guess I started sitting there because of Beck when I was dating him in the beginning but then things changed when we broke up,” Jade rambled. “And I’m sort of friends with Andre and Robbie but not really and I obviously don’t like Tori-”

“Cat! There you are!” Jade rolled her eyes as Robbie stumbled into the hallway. She was annoyed but also a tiny bit grateful for an interruption when she was clearly avoiding Cat’s question. 

“Robbie?” Cat looked up at him innocently. “What are you doing here?”

“What do you want Robbie?” Jade asked sighing. 

“Well I was trying to find Cat so I could ask her something… Cat… you know the Cow Wow that’s coming up? Would you maybe… want to go with me?” Robbie stuttered awkwardly. Jade watched Cat intently, she was curious where this would go. 

“Aw Robbie that’s really sweet… but I already have plans to go with someone that night…” Cat answered hesitantly.

“Oh uh that’s okay! I hope you have fun… I’ll see you in class!” Robbie was obviously not prepared for that rejection as he quickly and embarrassly walked away. Jade looked at Cat, who was shyly looking down at her sandwich. 

“You have a date for the Cow Wow? Who?” She asked sternly. 

“Well I was hoping… maybe we could go together this year?” Cat looked up at Jade tentatively. Jade looked at the smaller girl in shock.

“You don’t want to go with a boy?”

“Not really…” Cat mumbled. Jade had figured that if Cat had turned down Robbie, then she probably had a really attractive dude ask her to go with him, like what had happened with Prome. She would never expect Cat to choose her instead of a date. _Unless… no. Definitely not._

“...You really turned Robbie down when you didn’t even know if I would go with you yet?”

“Will you?” 

“I mean…” Jade couldn’t think of anyone she’d rather go with than Cat. Usually she would go with Beck, but obviously that wasn’t happening since they broke up. She hadn’t really even considered going this year. But even though she was unsure if Cat saw this as a romantic thing or a friend thing, probably the later, she was still eager to share the night with her.

“yes, of course I’ll go with you.”

“Yay!!” Cat beamed and clapped in excitement, causing Jade to smile back at her. “It’ll be so fun! I have the perfect dress and everything, I’m so excited!” 

Cat was so happy to finally be able to go to a school dance in the way she wanted, with her beautiful friend. She didn’t know why she always had the urge the stay as close to Jade as possible, but she did. Cat carefully leaned her head onto Jade’s shoulder, causing the other girl to look to the left where Cat was sitting. After making sure she wasn’t about to get pushed away (which was an irrational fear at this point) Cat snaked her arms around Jade’s torso and squeezed. 

“Thank you for saying yes..” Cat said sweetly. Jade let out a chuckle and put her arm around the small girl.

“You know I would never say no to you, Cat.” For the last five minutes of lunch, the two girls sat there without moving, smiling to themselves. 

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi everyone, sorry for the late update, i really need to figure out where i want this story to go. not much really happens in this chapter sorry about that .-. 
> 
> love you all


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